Anesthesiologists in New Hampshire have launched a remote intensive care unit to ensure COVID-19 patients in rural hospitals have access to the same standard of care as those in urban environments.
The platform, which is called the TeleICU, is designed for physicians in rural hospitals to connect with anesthesiologists at Lebanon, N.H.-based Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. The video call consultations occur at patients' bedsides, where the physicians strategize how to best provide care until the patient can be transferred to a larger hospital.
The consultations typically revolve around subjects such as pain management, blood transfusions, acute respiratory distress, organ dysfunction and ventilator management.
"Anesthesiology has long been a specialty of innovation," Stephen Surgenor, MD, president of the New Hampshire Society of Anesthesiologists, said in a news release. "During this healthcare emergency, telemedicine has been a helpful way for critical care anesthesiologists to care for COVID-19 patients who wouldn't otherwise have the ability to be seen by these specialists."